Readers Write: Inflation, Harris calling Trump ‘fascist,’ deportation, Stearns County referendum

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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In a recent letter to the editor, a writer claimed the pandemic was the real reason for inflation under the Biden/Harris administration (“Dems are mum on the obvious answer,” Readers Write, Oct. 28). To be sure, supply chain constraints did pose a problem, but that’s the exact reason that the Biden/Harris administration never should’ve passed the $1.9 trillion so-called American Rescue Plan, probably more accurately named the American Inflation Plan. Economics 101 tells you that inflation is too many dollars chasing too few goods and services. Liberal economist and Harvard Prof. Larry Summers, also a top adviser during President Barack Obama’s administration, warned against passing it on several occasions, calling it the “least responsible” economic policy in 40 years. He made his views public on Bloomberg TV, in the Washington Post and the New Yorker. But the Biden/Harris administration went ahead anyway because the additional spending would buy them more votes. The bill was composed of transfer payments, including $1,400 checks per person, up to $3,600 per child in tax credits and an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits, plus several other giveaways.

The fact that Kamala Harris refuses to accept any responsibility for the inflation shows she is either ignorant of economics or too hypocritical to admit it. While the letter writer boasts that inflation is now only 2.4%, he fails to mention that inflation is cumulative. The over 9% inflation under Biden/Harris is still baked into the system. So prices aren’t going down, they’re simply rising at a slower rate. Harris’ answer to this is to blame price-gouging by greedy corporations, which proves her lack of knowledge how business works. Corporations don’t get to run huge deficits like the government. They need to make a profit to keep people employed, pay their bills and stay in business.

To be fair, former President Donald Trump’s tariff policies would be no bargain either. Like inflation, tariffs are a tax on all people and inherently inflationary. Biden and Harris kept some of Trump’s tariffs in place but his plan would be to invoke many more. Indeed, a very well-known and astute investor, Paul Tudor Jones, cautioned about rising inflation under both candidates, especially with their propensities to buy as many votes as possible with tax reductions on tips, overtime or grants as high as $25,000 to buy a house. In a recent interview on CNBC, he said Trump and Harris are both “least suited for the job ahead of them.” Unfortunately, with the extremes of both parties governing our choice of candidates, this is the hand Americans have been dealt.

Steve Hayden, Eden Prairie

Recent opinions on this page have criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for directly answering Anderson Cooper’s question: “Do you think Donald Trump a fascist?” Was she supposed to deflect or lie? Trump’s own chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, says Trump meets the fascist definition. Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, said he is “fascist to the core.” This truly wasn’t name-calling as some claim. These were all well-explained conclusions about Trump, underscoring why we Americans should be concerned about Trump 2.0.

Name-calling, without basis, is what Trump does to all who criticize him. He has done so since he rode down his golden escalator. His VP pick Sen. JD Vance is also no stranger to calling Trump names. Vance has called Trump an “idiot,” “reprehensible” and “America’s Hitler” and wrote: “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.” So, to those who criticize Harris here, please explain to yourself how again and again, you remain silent or are apologetic when Trump engages in name-calling that runs the gamut from juvenile, demeaning, racist and divisive to bullying and intimidation.

Robert Speeter, Minneapolis

A “great and noble scheme” was the ironic name for the first large-scale deportation (ethnic cleansing) in North America (in 1755). I am a 10th-generation survivor of that deportation.

Former President Donald Trump, if elected, proposes another “noble scheme” to deport millions of people, most of whom have lived in this country as productive workers and taxpayers for years. Those who would be scheduled to be deported provide an economic mainstay to agriculture, food service and the hospitality industries. Parents and grandparents who have lived in the U.S. for decades could be deported, leaving children and grandchildren to fend for themselves.

In the first deportation, thousands of French-speaking folks were rounded up in Nova Scotia and scattered around the world. It is estimated that over 11,000 individuals were deported and that 5,000 died from disease, starvation or shipwrecks. Families were separated — wives from husbands, and children from parents. This expulsion created future generations that were destined to live in poverty. My family ended up in Louisiana. My parents were lucky to have achieved an eighth-grade education. I was the first in my family to achieve a college education. While Cajuns (formerly Acadians) are no longer an oddity, they were treated as second-class citizens for hundreds of years.

Do we as Americans want to create another “great and noble scheme” in which millions of people are scattered around the world? Is this what we want to be known for? We are a country of immigrants — people who have sought religious, economic and political freedom.

Donna Morris, Bemidji, Minn.

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I laid awake in the night considering how Trump would deport millions of illegal immigrants. According to the Department of Homeland Security in 2022, there are over 11 million of them. How would this happen? Who would identify and gather all these people? Would they be awakened in the night and ushered into arenas until transportation could be provided back to their homeland? Who would pay for all this? Assuming they would board planes, 30,000 flights (an average of 400 per flight) would be needed to transport them to their homelands: El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, etc. And this wouldn’t just be the workers, it would also be their families — women, children, babies. But wait — the children born in the U.S. are legal, right? Would they then be separated and be left behind? Who would provide food, water, beds and diapers and address medical needs? Or would they be left like the Jews were to fend for themselves until transported? And would they be accepted or mistreated back in their home country?

These practical questions are mind-boggling and unimaginable, but we have a presidential candidate who is determined to do it!

Mary Lu Jackson, Edina

As Stearns County auditor-treasurer, I want to ensure that voters understand the referendum question on their election ballot to use sales tax to pay for the new Stearns County Justice Center. The question is on how to fund this project. The state of Minnesota and the County Board have determined a new justice center is necessary due to our county’s increasing jail overcrowding, outdated infrastructure and inadequate court and security spaces.

Stearns County is offering voters a choice: to fund the justice center through a sales tax or through a property tax. A “yes” vote on the referendum means funding will come from a sales tax; a “no” vote means the county will have to look to property taxes. A sales tax spreads the financial responsibility beyond just Stearns County residents, with about 55% of the cost covered by nonresidents who shop or do business in Stearns County, and 45% borne by local residents. This mirrors the usage of our justice system, as about half of our jail population and court users are nonresidents. In contrast, if the referendum fails, the entire cost will fall solely on Stearns County property owners.

The outcome of the vote on this ballot question will guide how this required county infrastructure project will be funded. I encourage voters to consider the long-term financial impacts and to choose the funding approach that best serves our community’s future.

More information is available at stearnscountymn.gov/1753/Justice-Center-Project.

Randy Schreifels, St. Cloud

The writer is Stearns County auditor-treasurer.